Operation Turkey
by suzie2b
Summary: Tully just wanted to help a couple of families.


**Disclaimer:** _ **The Rat Patrol**_ **is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.**

 **Authors note: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!**

 **Operation Turkey**

 **By Suzie2b**

 **It was nearly Thanksgiving. High Command, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the men and women stationed in North Africa needed a Thanksgiving dinner. Each base received enough potatoes, makings for stuffing, cranberries for sauce, and all the other trimmings to feed … well, an army. Oh, and let's not forget the star of the holiday … the turkeys. A week before Thanksgiving fifty of the plump birds were delivered alive to Ras Tanura and were being kept in a makeshift pen behind the mess hall to be fattened up even more.**

 **The Arab people had never seen anything like the big domesticated turkeys from America. Guards had to be posted to keep the curious people back.**

 **Hitch and Tully were taking a turn keeping an eye on the birds the day after their arrival with a couple of other soldiers. Making sure no one tried to steal any and the children didn't stick their fingers through the wire fencing. One youngster looked up a Tully after he had been warned that one of the birds could take a finger off and asked, "Why are there so many?"**

 **Tully knelt down to eye level with the child. "Well, in other parts of the world there is a holiday called Thanksgiving. And one of the things families do on that day is eat turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing that's been cooked in the bird, lots of gravy, yams, and cranberry sauce. With pumpkin pie for dessert."**

 **The young boy's eyes went wide at the thought. "So much food for just one day?" Tully nodded with a smile. "Just one of these birds would feed my family for a long time!"**

 **That's when Tully noticed how thin the child was. The boy's father called him and he smiled as he said a simple, "Thank you." Then he was gone.**

 **Hitch sauntered over and asked, "What was that all about?"**

 **Tully's brows knitted together as he replied, "Just a curious kid."**

" **I know that look. What's going on?"**

" **Did you notice how skinny that kid is?"**

 **Hitch nodded. "Unfortunately, there's quite a few just like him. For some food isn't a daily occurrence." Tully remained silent, still staring in the direction the boy had gone. "Okay, what's going on inside that head of yours?"**

 **Tully smiled a little and shrugged. "I was just rememberin' this family that owns the next farm over from my folks. Two adults and eight kids. They aren't as fortunate as my family and they struggle from time to time." He looked at his friend. "Every now and then we take them a basket of 'extras.' Just vegetables that mom grew in the garden or apples off our tree when she decided there was too much just for us. Sometimes mom would make a big pot of soup and take half of it to them with a loaf of fresh baked bread. But the biggest thing I remember is the big tom turkey we give them every year for the holiday. Me and dad would sneak over before daylight on Thanksgiving and leave the turkey and a sack of taters on their porch. Don't know if they've ever suspected us or not. The last letter I got from my mom said that, since I'm not there, dad was planning to do it with my sisters."**

 **Hitch grinned. "You've got a real good family." Tully's smile grew as he continued to stare at his friend. Hitch's smile faded a bit as he realized what Tully was thinking. "You're not thinking of doing what I think you're thinking of doing … are you?"**

 **################################**

 **That night at about midnight Tully kissed his sleeping wife gently on the forehead, quietly dressed in the dark, and carried his boots out the door.**

 **He walked quickly to the mess hall and slipped around back. Tully peeked around the corner to locate the lone guard he knew would be there and saw … Hitch. He walked over and asked quietly, "What are you doing here?"**

 **Hitch grinned. "Couldn't let you get into trouble without me, could I?"**

 **Tully smiled. "Thanks, but the plan is to** _ **not**_ **get caught. Where's the guard?"**

" **Funny you should ask. I happened to wander out here a few minutes ago with a midnight snack and he complained that he was starving. So I told him I'd take over while he went in for something to eat."**

" **Okay. I'm gonna take two birds. You stay here until the guard comes back. He'll never know what happened."**

 **Tully quickly had two of the heavy, slow birds locked inside transport boxes just big enough to hold one each. However, he wasn't quick enough. They were caught with Hitch holding the gate and Tully with the boxed turkeys gobbling away.**

 **################################**

 **When morning came Hitch and Tully were escorted from their jail cell to Captain Boggs' office where Troy and Moffitt were also waiting.**

 **Troy gave a sigh as he looked angrily at his two privates. "What were you two thinking?"**

 **Tully said, "Don't blame Hitch, sarge. It was my idea."**

 **Hitch shook his head. "But you didn't ask me to help. You didn't even know I was going to show up."**

 **Troy snapped, "Did you really think you'd get away with it?"**

 **The two young privates hung their heads silently.**

 **Captain Boggs said, "I would be interested to know just what you were planning on doing with two live turkeys."**

 **Hesitantly, Tully explained his meeting with the boy at the turkey pen. Then he went on to tell the story about his family's tradition of leaving a turkey on their neighbor's doorstep. Tully ended with, "I know of at least two families that could use a little help here in Ras Tanura." He shrugged. "I just want them to know someone cares, sir."**

 **Moffitt said, "There are many more than two hungry families here."**

 **Captain Boggs said, "Unfortunately, sergeant, we can't feed them all."**

 **Moffitt looked at the captain as he said, "But what if we could, sir. Just for one day."**

 **Troy smiled as he realized what his friend was thinking. "Yeah. There's fifty turkeys in that pen, sir. And even if we only had half the food High Command had sent there'd still be enough to feed the people on base and have leftovers."**

 **Hitch and Tully looked at each other and smiled. Hitch said, "We wouldn't have to do on Thanksgiving Day, sir. There's still some days yet. What if we could set up something special for the townspeople?"**

 **Captain Boggs thought about it, then decided he couldn't find an argument against it. "All right. Get things started while I try to explain this to Major Gleason."**

 **As Troy, Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully walked out of the office into the hallway, they found Charley waiting with her hands on her hips. She furrowed her brows as she looked at Tully with a frown and said, "First you're gone when I wake up. Then, when I get to work, I find out you and Hitch have been arrested…"**

 **Tully grinned as he went to her, took her by the hand, and kept walking. "I'll explain on the way. We've got work to do."**

 **################################**

 **Turkeys were made ready for the ovens. Volunteers were up early to help in the kitchen with Sergeant John Alexander, better known as "Cookie", giving orders. Tully and Charley worked the serving line with more volunteers. Troy and Moffitt helped usher people into the mess hall and find seating. Hitch was among those clearing tables as people left. And Captain Boggs and Major Gleason stood at the exit smiling and passing out small bundles of prepackaged "leftovers."**

 **After a long afternoon and early evening of feeding people, another crew arrived to clean up for the exhausted workers. John was actually smiling when he went around thanking the volunteers for all their help. Then he climbed onto one of the tables and said, "Great days don't come around often out here. I'm glad I was a part of this one. But … in a couple of days we have to do it all over again. I'm going to need volunteers…"**

 **After a collective groan, everyone was laughing as they threw aprons, towels, and napkins at the head cook.**


End file.
